6.2 Weihnachten bis Silvester
Lektionsüberblick
Frohe Festage! In our final lesson, we will finish up the year by looking at the holidays and traditions from December 24-January 1. In the end, you will be able talk about 1) Heiligabend (Christmas Eve), 2) the time from Christmas to Silvester (New Year’s Eve) called zwischen den Jahren, and 3) the Jahreswende (turn of the year).
1) Heiligabend & Bescherung
The gift-giving part of Christmas typically takes place on Heiligabend, Christmas Eve. Read about Weihnachtsbaum and Bescherung.
Listen to Luca talk about his Lieblingsfeiertag. Was gefällt ihm an Weihnachten?
Feiertagsgrüße – Holiday Greetings
| Ein frohes Fest! | A joyous holiday! |
| Frohe Weihnachten! | Merry Christmas! |
| Fröhliche Weihnachten! | Merry Christmas! |
| Frohe Festtage! | Season’s Greetings! |
| Frohes Weihnachtsfest! | A joyous Christmas celebration! |
| Ein gesegnetes Weihnachtsfest! | A blessed Christmas! |
| Frohe Weihnachten und guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr! | Merry Christmas and a good start to the New Year! |
| Ein frohes Weihnachtsfest und alles Gute zum neuen Jahr! | A joyful Christmas and best wishes for the New Year! |
Jetzt bist du dran!
Wann hast den Weihnachtsbaum geholt? Hattest du einen echten oder künstlichen Weihnachtsbaum? Hattest du mehr gekauften und selbstgemachten Baumschmuck? In your written journal, answer the questions about a Christmas tree from your childhood using the modeled language above. Then record your answers in your audio journal.
Als der Nikolaus kam: The German “Night Before Christmas”
Podcast “Geschenke zwischen den Jahren”: Bastian trifft seine Schwägerin Leonie in der Stadt: Was hat Leonie da in ihrer Einkaufstüte? (17m)
Deutsch IRL – Idiomatische Ausdrücke: Weihnachtsedition
What do you think these Christmas-themed idiomatic expressions mean?
|
Sie freut sich wie ein Kind an Weihnachten. |
Das ist ja eine schöne Bescherung! |
| lit. She is as happy as a child at Christmas. | lit. That’s a nice gift exchange! |
| fig. She is as happy as a clam. | fig. That’s a pretty kettle of fish! |
2) Zwischen den Jahren
The time zwischen den Jahren (=between the years) vom 24. Dezember bis zum 1. Januar is often spent with family enjoying yummy meals and meeting up with friends. The start of this time are the Christmas days which have regionally different names.
| die Schweiz | Deutschland | Österreich | Liechtenstein | |
| 25. Dezember | Weihnachtstag | 1. Weihnachtstag | Christtag | Weihnachten |
| 26. Dezember | Stephanstag | 2. Weihnachtstag | Stephanitag | Stephanstag |
Let’s now look at some typical holiday meals in the four German-speaking countries.
Jetzt bist du dran!
Was hast du in deiner Kindheit zu Weihnachten gegessen? Truthahn oder Schinken? Oder etwas aus der Präsentation? In your written journal, answer the questions about a Christmas tree from your childhood using the modeled language above. Then record your answers in your audio journal.
3) die Jahreswende
December 31, New Year’s Eve, is called Silvester in German after the Nameday of Saint Sylvester. Let’s look at some Silvestertraditionen from the German-speaking countries. Do you do any of them?
Listen to Sonja talk about her Lieblingsfeiertag. Was gefällt ihr an Silvester?
Neujahrsgrüße
| Alles Gute zum neuen Jahr! | Best wishes for the new year! |
| Prosit Neujahr! | Happy New Year! |
| Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr! | A good start in the new year! |
| Ein glückliches neues Jahr! | Happy New Year! |
Jetzt bist du dran!
Was machst du zu Silvester? Was hast du in der Kindheit gemacht? In your written journal, answer the questions about your New Year’s Eve celebrations present and past using the modeled language above. Then record your answers in your audio journal.
Jetzt kombinieren
In this lesson, you learned how to talk about 1) Heiligabend, 2) zwischen den Jahren, and 3) the Jahreswende. Now let’s combine what you’ve learned!
Imagine you are on a study abroad in a German-speaking country and you start talking to a new friend about Christmas traditions. What do you tell your friend about how you typically spend the Christmas holidays and the last week of the year? How does your friend response? In your written journal, write up a dialogue between you and your friend, using the modeled language and content from this lesson. Check your work and then record your conversation in your audio journal.
As always: feel free to meet up with a classmate and record together!
Before you go!
You have completed your fall semester of second-year German! Herzlichen Glückwünsch! Think about all you have accomplished this semester. If you were traveling to a German-speaking country over break, you would be able to talk to a new German-speaking friend about your life at college and your childhood.
Don’t end your language journey here, be sure to sign up for your next class and make plans to study abroad. As you go forward in your language learning (or want to keep up over break), you can always come back to this book (or to Deutsch im Alltag II) to review!
Media Attributions
- Lucas Lieblingsfeiertag adapted from Willkommen: Deutsch für alle 2, Copyright © 2020 by Claudia Kost and Crystal Sawatzky, licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA International License 4.0.
- Sonjas Lieblingsfeiertag adapted from Willkommen: Deutsch für alle 2, Copyright © 2020 by Claudia Kost and Crystal Sawatzky, licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA International License 4.0.
Media Attributions
- 2030-2040 ch banner reduced size
